


Guns And Roses

by Ixdigo



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Blood, Character Death, Counterparts - Freeform, Dark as heck, Don't Judge Me, F/M, Future Character Death, Gang Violence, Gen, Guns, I AM SORRY FOLKS, I Don't Even Know, I'm Bad At Tagging, Is this enough tags???, Knives, Multi, Oh My God, Other, Rating May Change, Roses, Selfcest, Warnings May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-11
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-10-30 19:39:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10883577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ixdigo/pseuds/Ixdigo
Summary: "Aren't  you that rosegirl?""That's how you greet a woman? Classy."





	1. One

When Tori had first told her friends she was moving out on her own terms, the roommates that were accommodated with her were both skeptical and a bit supportive. However, their reactions to her preparing to pack up and move away were all a slightly bit different than what she originally expected. 

Matilda, having been her best friend for years was almost driven to tears, which in return nearly drove Tori to tears in sight of the girl. Who still managed to cram in a few beauty tips and overall support of the sort, although she didn't exactly needed the beauty advice at this very second. Tori couldn't care less as she embraced her friend in a goodbye hug, attempting to hold back her own tears beginning to build up.

Ell, who was also one of her close friends, couldn't help but feel a small bit skeptical at Tori's decision. Tori had a feeling about that since her expression at the first mention of her leave was a mixture of support and understandable concern. Sure, she knew this was going to happen eventually and her leaving was just the start of their "break-up" so to speak, but she had no idea it could happen this quickly. Still, she warmed up to the idea and wrapped her arms around the Norwegian woman. Tori assumed she must have known this was coming, but preferred not to do anything to stop it, because this was, afterall, Tori's decision.

Then lastly it was her, just her, "her" being a hollow-eyed woman named Tamara. The two of the girls didn't have a nice start upon meeting for the first time, and still didn't have nice times throughout their years of being together. Well....That was a bit of a lie, in someways they did have good times together. Instead of the constant hostility and back-handed compliments the two girls would pass with one another, they grown to be a bit more civilized and mature. Just the two of them standing here and now felt like a western stand-off or something, waiting for the other to make a move first. Sooner or later, it seemed like both had lost the so-called stand-off and began to hug one another. Which looked like an foreign moment when it happened right in front of the other two roommates staring directly at them, but a few seconds in it grew a smile on both of their faces.

It was at this moment Tori knew, that she loved all of them, she didn't know how or when she came to this conclusion, but she did. It would've felt cliche to her to call it some "warm and fuzzy feeling" but in all honesty it felt a little just like that, and it also felt.....

Good. 

Just Good.

 

But it never lasted.

Getting in her bus drive to ride to her newest apartment, Tori felt that "warm and fuzzy feeling" dying down the more she saw her friends faces fade further and further away from her, that nice and simple feeling of everything being the way it was before, now crumbling away like a piece of paper. The things she previously felt before when she was around them now going to be washed up at sea, never to return. And there was no way she could stop it. No way she could turn back now. No way to forget this and turn back home-

Home?

Home...

That....was her home....

She felt like reality had hit her square in the jaw, leaving a dark bruise on the wound. Her vision started to steadily become a little blurry, and the Norwegian was starting to get a little worried as her view got even blurrier. But until she felt a small droplet fall on her shorts, she knew she was crying.

Boy, did she feel like a crying right about now. 

Boy, she did feel like threatening the bus driver to stop and get her the hell out of this new lonely reality she was now gonna have to be forced to live. All by herself.

•

But she didn't, and she wondered why.  
__________________________________________________________________________  
She couldn't help but continuously ask that question in her mind as the bus drive went on for only a few minutes, but to her it already felt like a couple of hours had already hit the fan.

Little did she know that her nervous moving and small twitching was going to attract unwanted attention.

Suddenly, a small voice came out of nowhere, surprising Tori as it sounded like it came from someone sitting close to her, like a whisper. She couldn't hear it clearly at first until she focused on the small pitched voice a bit closer.

"Uh....a-are you okay?"

The little voice resounded like an innocent whisper, with a cry of genuine concern for the woman who sat next to her. As Tori glanced to her right at the voice that called, she took a good look at the person. Brunette colored hair, a nice dark blue skirt, and...Hollow Eyes? It felt like she was looking at Tami again, but this girl was noticeably different of course.

Tori had the need to just ignore this girl since telling her the right answer would've been the wrong one to say. But with that look of friendliness and shyness, Tori couldn't give in the need to say at least something.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine" she blurted out, words coming faster than normal.

"Oh...well, it just looked like you were upset and...I wanted to make sure." The brunette gave Tori a light-hearted smile, obviously not realizing that Tori was trying to rush her friendly jester off quickly. Or maybe she did know and didn't give in, heh, like someone else she knew.

Even still, the worried vocals in this girl almost made Tori cringe, she felt like she didn't deserve the concern, she definitely didn't deserve this pleasant aura the brunette was radiating off of on her. She turned back and glanced at her again.

"I......have been thinking of things, that's all." Tori responded with a stiff, calm tone, not wanting the woman to see/think otherwise.

"Ah, okay." A small pause, accompanied by a thoughtful facial expression. "I guess that makes sense....." 

Tori felt the utter silence was going to kill her as time went forward, if she didn't make use of her time now, it probably was.

".....My name is Tori." Hah? 

Where did the heck did that come from?

The girl glanced back, a smile crept on her face from the all-of-the-sudden statement.

"Cute name!" 

"My name is Joan." The brunette replied in a little sing-songy tone.

"Heh, thanks.......Joan." 

The Norwegian woman was rejoiced upon hearing that voice, it felt, kind. It felt, welcoming. It felt.......

"Warm and Fuzzy".

Oh great, back to that word again.

All in all, it just felt soothing hearing such a familiar figure, like she had known this girl for a long time.

Perhaps this was a start of some " beautiful friendship" or something. How could she tell?

°°°°°°°°  
After a full hour of riding, but it hadn't even felt like it was that long with Joan and Tori chatting it up throughout the ride. Somehow, Joan was one of the next door neighbors that lived in that weird lady Elana's household. Tori referred to her as weird since she was always saying something odd about Elle, who apparently was the younger girl's rival. Tori had never seen the other hollow-eyed girl before at that house, meeting her here was like a moment of chance.

Then, the bus slowed down to a stop. Allowing another person to step on the bus and ride to wherever they randomly had to go off to.

A man with hair that spiked like the shape of horns got up on the bus,  
walking swiftly pass where Tori and Joan were comfortably seated. Beforehand, a small gaze between both his and Tori's eyes met, Tori gave a fairly quick glance to the man. She couldn't note in everything, but all she found was that she had grey eyes.

Plain, grey eyes.

Beautiful, grey eyes. 

Tori silently chuckled at the mention of that in her head.

As she turned back to find the man was now sitting behind her's and Joan's seats. Tori quietly sighed. While Joan passed her eyes back to her new friend, having caught sight of the tall, grey-eyed male as well. 

No way she could turn back now.

____________________


	2. Two

She found herself unconsciously having her eyes retracting back to that man, often questioning how it was this specific fellow that had caught her immediate attention. Maybe it was his foreign appearance that had attracted her to research him, or something else, she had no idea what. All she knew in this moment was to catch a better view of this "hair-horned" person, and she did exactly that.

The man was tall, but slim. His short hair added a nice, complimenting figure to his frame. He was wearing a red hoodie, with a leather black overcoat on top of it. But the most immediately noticeable feature of the male was his pair of heterochromia set of eyes, at first she thought that both of his eyes were grey, but after looking at them directly they weren't after all. Instead, his right eye was a plain hazel color and his left eye was a clear grey color. He also had a small bandage located a tiny bit on the left side of his face. 

Oblivious to her thoroughly viewing his presence (thankfully, words wouldn't be able to desribe if he saw her.) the male was still seated there calmly, looking like he took a small sign before his head soon started facing the bus window, not even noticing the woman who caught his glance earlier on when he got in. The appearance of this male was oddly enticing, and it didn't take but a few more seconds for the woman to realize what she was doing and blankly stopped it. Only for her to find herself slowly drawn to looking at him again after a small amount of time. Of course, it totally wasn't like her new friend was not just sitting right beside her and not taking note of her creepy as all hell behavior, nope not at all.

She gulped,

Totally not at all.

°°°°°°  
A few more minutes into the drive and the bus made an abrupt stop yet again, at this point in the drive multiple passengers had already gotten off the bus and their were only a few people left. Tori, Joan, a blue-haired woman who has been staring at her phone the entire time, A blonde haired male wearing a light-purple sweater and his butt-chin the most that stood out to her, a few other random people she could care less to recognize, and finally that hair-horned guy.

At this point, hair-horned guy stood back up from his seating and strided over to the bus exit, his location was now the latest stop they had made. As he strolled back to where he first came in, his grey eyes made its way back to glance at Tori, his emotionless gaze warming up into a tiny smile at the sight of the woman with the rose-bead ponytail holder.

At the sight of that male's gracious disarming smile, her eyes nearly widened, Tori almost melted. It was such a small thing, really just a slight upwards curve of the corner of his lips, but it remained one of the most intriguing things she had ever witnessed since she got on here. Tori was so enraptured that, before she could say anything to the man before he left to god knows where, her "new friend" Joan tapped her gently on her shoulder with a question of what she was doing that she realised she had been awkwardly staring this whole time. Suddenly embarrassed, Tori ducked her gaze and tried to distract herself by leaning back in her chair, blushing as she felt Joan grin knowingly at her. 

It was like she was daydreaming, which in all honesty wouldn't have been bad because of how she was when she first hopped on this bus. Tori queried mentally to herself, trying to imagine that this was all a dream.

Meanwhile, Joan had her gaze still directed at Tori, not knowing what question to ask, in the meantime her eyes flickered with curiousity at the Norwegian. She had this strange feeling that she was much different than what she expected, and she giggled at knowing she was probably going to figure it out soon enough.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Thank god he was at the right place.

The trip back to Edd's apartment was so much longer than he first thought. 

Damnit. He cussed silently to himself.

It didn't take no time for him to stand up from his bus seat and head straight towards the exit, slightly annoyed at how the bus driver failed to take the quickest shortcut back, but that didn't matter to him. All that mattered was him getting back in time in order for their to be no suspicions. 

He found himself glancing over to the girl with those rose-beads on top of her head, he smirked as he strode swiftly pass where the two girls were still seated. Her eyes widening a little after he walked pass them both, her eyes still glued on him.

He managed to take a good look at the female before his leave, hazel eyes and a slim figure. Accompanied by those cute little rose beads that fitted her appearance quite nicely. Still he didn't see her too long as his foot was already placed out of the bus door and he couldn't see the view of that female anymore. 

****

Knocking on Edward's apartment room, that is considering if his best friend was still on the other end of the room and hadn't left out for some random reason. While waiting outside he tried to think of other ways he could get in if he was gone: 

Perhaps he could contact Matt and have him let him through the door,then again, if Matt's not doing his everyday routine of admiring himself in the mirror, there was a strong 50/50 he would even answer his phone. And that was something he could not chance, after all, he didn't want to look like some homeless guy standing on a porch, how much attention that would cause was something he couldn't count happening. Especially if that annoying neighbor, "Eduardo", was likely staring out of his apartment window from across town.

He paused.

Wait-

Why would he even do that? That's strange as hell.

He erased that disturbing thought from his mind.

Now then......Next was Tom. 

No, definitely not him. Thomas was an intelligent guy, even if he did let him in he would question why he was gone for so long. He could tell him he was just out with a couple of pals at the local bar, but there was no way he could believe that- 

The hair-horned male's phone beeped instantly, alerting the red hoodied male of a text message that couldn't have arrived at a much better time. He swiped out his black and red I-phone from his pocket, a red symbol of Communism appearing on the back of it and hurriedly went through his notifications.  
5:15 PM 

Paul- Tord, me and Patryk fear the *Svart Gang is going to plan an attack on our grounds. Should we meet up for a strategy plan?-

A small sweatdrop caressed down the left side of his face, the male remained frozen as he was currently comprehending the text message that miraculously appeared on his phone from one of his...acquaintences, he could say.

The Svart Gang? Those Jævels are still around in town? Wasn't their leader locked up in prison for attemped murder? Didn't they disband?

"Tord! Your back!" before he had knew it, a warm welcoming voice was soon heard. The person who had remarked it standing right in front of Tord's face. His brunette hair, glasses, and his typical green hoodie making Tord's stance lighten up a little bit from the surprising news he just read on his phone. Tord looked behind Edd's shoulder and found that both Thomas and Matt remained in the house as well, staring at the horned-hair male that was once considered a 4th member of their little squad, per se.

Straightening up his posture a bit, hiding his earlier cringe before Edward cracked open the door, he stuck his phone back in his pocket and reconstructed his facial expression he gained from earlier. This time with a unspecified smirk on his face as a greeting to them.

"Hello, old friends" The male answered, his North-European accent rolling off as smooth and rich as honey.

__________________________________________________


	3. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plan for the chapter titles to be more corresponding to the chapters itself and not just simple numbers. Overtime eventually.

It happened almost instantaneous, a split milisecond. She could've sworn this man was like a damn magician, now you see him, now you don't. The man that had met her eye-to-eye for what was only a single second before, BOOM, he had dissappeared. Straight out through the bus exit, his glance, his hair, his body, never to be seen again. Shutting the bus door efficiently behind him.

Tori was still feeling like she was missing something from that small flash of an encounter. There had to of been something else. Reclined back in her seat, with her arms crossed and eyes only fairly closed. Joan, on her other side, humming a little song that the woman couldn't recognize. But judging by the soothing tone the girl was peacefully singing, it must have been a relaxing one. Tori was troubled by that hair-horned stranger, something just didn't sit right about him.

 

If she recollected the event correctly, and slowed it down a tiny bit, she almost thought she saw him mouth the word "Hi" before he left-

Wait.

waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait-

He.

Said.

Hi!?!?

...

...

...

...

...

...

god how freaking cringey she was.

***********

 

As Tori still kept her eyes locked on the window screen to her left, taking in the roads, streets, and buildings that passed her by. She still couldn't help herself thinking of that uniquely decorated male. Even when he was already out of the door and (she secretly prayed to herself not) out of her life forever. As odd as that seemed to her, there was no way she should've been having these thoughts crossing her mind this much. In fact, her thoughts were just a bit clouded.

All that she could focus on was that one moment when their gazes met, it was like time stood still for a whole minute. No regret, no despair, no anything. Just that one hair-horned man and her, alone,together. Allowing Tori to take in his sight and on the other hand, allowing him to reel her in like a fish caught on a fishing rod. As she imagined that, her eyebrows furrowed, slowly driving her in a more confused atmosphere. To her it seemed pretty childish, letting this one, total stranger peak her curiousity. This feeling of admiration overcoming her common sense and pulling her hand out of her reality. Scratch that, it was very childish indeed. But this feeling wasn't going away, and a apart of her wondered if that feeling was mutual....

Tori mentally snapped at herself, her hazel eyes widening at how naive she just sounded. What was she doing?

Was she really this self-indulgent?

Just a few hours ago she was reminising about the friends she selfishly left all by themselves, and now she gets caught up in this mystery story called "Who Is That Boy Next Door"? It disgusted her, doing this was probably as low as the Norwegian could get.

Gathering her mind's normality, or whatever back from the retarded, whimsical state it was in before. Tori decided to give a small glance back to the hollow-eyed girl beside her, who was first full of energy and friendly charisma now laid comfortably asleep. Her head resting on her shoulder while her back was propped up against the seat, resting in what will soon be a small slumber.

Not wanting to awaken the innocent girl from the rest she probably needs right now, otherwise she wouldn't have clocked off to sleep so fast. Tori snickered at her sleeping manner and simply sighed.

"Victoria Lars, this is where your ride ends." The bus driver called out to her in a direct manner.

Tori nearly cringed at the mention of her full name, it sorta reminded her of how Elle would say it. Nevertheless, she gotten up from her seat.

Feeling a tiny bit guilty, her head turned towards that resting girl once more, feeling bad that she would have to leave her without saying a special goodbye and farewell.

****  
"Joan Sera!"

The girl with the deep blue skirt and hollow-eyes laid fast asleep, she was just such in a comfortable postition she couldn't even hear the bus driver calling out her name. The blue-haired passenger now awkwardly poking the shoulder of the hollow-eyed woman.

"Joan! Come on!"

The woman still kept snoring.

"JOAN. GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE."

The woman awoken immediately at the volume of the tone, collecting her manners and remembering how she got lost in slumber she hurriedly woke out of her sleep. Clumsily grabbing her worn-out azure bag and crying out apology after apology to the driver. Within a few minutes of just doing only that she realized that woman was gone. That, she thought for a second, oh! That interesting girl with the rose-beads! She soon fell sullen, looking off to her side that girl was no longer sitting there anymore. Except a small little batch of rose petals that now laid where she was seated-

Huh?

Rose petals?

Not taking any more time to sight-see, Joan quickly picked up the crimson red petals from the bus seat, placing them in the pocket of her bag, and rushing out of the bus without anymore awkward eyes were glared at her.

The blonde with the purple sweater, the supposed "butt-chin", and a book he was just reading had watched it all unfold. Letting out a deep sigh as he saw the woman scurry out of the bus, so much for peace and quiet.

*********************  
Upon his arrival, Tord found that not a whole lot of things had changed in Edd's apartment since he'd been gone.There still was that chestnut shaded wall in the living room, that ancient black T.V that somehow still works, his friend's (and his own) old bedrooms, and that wide-open kitchen where Tord and Edward would often find themselves arguing over the last piece of bacon from the stove. Man, those were some crazy times, but the best kind of crazy times.

Matt was currently coming out of the kitchen, holding a drink of water in his left-hand, whilst waving to the heterochromic male with the other.

Tord immediately recognized the ginger-haired male, a small peck of freckles shown on his face, a purple hoodie (with a green overcoat), and him being noticeably taller than the rest of gang made the ginger's presence clearly known.

"Hey Todd-"

 

"It's Tord." the male needily corrected.

 

"Tord? Weird, I thought it was Todd." Matt slightly shrugged his shoulders.

 

Edward facepalmed at his ginger friend, having explained to him--two times actually-- that their old friend was returning a day before. Only for him NOW to get his name wrong.

 

Tord found himself leaded over to the living room first by Edward. Giving him a closer look at the one "friend" who were still sitting there on the couch. Make that two, since he saw Matt sauntered over with his drink of tap water and sit on the other side of the couch. Tom was too busy focused on practicing his checkered-colored bass Susan. Tord assumed he either didn't see him come in, or like Matt, got told beforehand of his return, and simply didn't care. He could imagine the spiked-haired ex-roommate of his doing that, considering their little "relationship". Surprisingly, Susan was the one thing in this apartment that didn't the look like it gotten rusty, still having that pristine vibe and appearing like it was fairly new. Thomas must have done a good job keeping that thing polished. Before long, Thomas' sight soon was spotted on Tord's glance. He admitted, he was having a good time, but if the way Tom's "eyes" were some sort of indication, he wasn't gonna feel that way for much longer.

"Welcome back. Commie." Tom mumbled curtly at him, a plastered-on fake smile aimed directly at him. The horned-hair male sighed with exasperation and rolled his eyes at the last word of his short sentence, of course, how typical.

Typical as in, yet again, rubbing in his face how he had communistic views and beliefs with such an idiotically thought out nickname for him. If Edward hadn't been standing a few inches away from him, he most likely would have put the "Jehovah's Witness" in his place verbally. However, now was not the time to engage in the foolish rivalry they kept active. So he bit back from responding in a negative manner, instead, he laughed it off.

"Hahahaha! Classic Tom!" Tord sniggered, aimlessly gathering attention to their little "reunion" from Edward and Matthew, who were just casually conversating.

Thomas pressed his lips together in a thin line as he watched Tord start to join Edd and Matt in their little convo. Thomas the only one left behind as he still continued to practice his extremely precious bass. One glance back at the gang, and Tom could see a jeering smirk arise on Tord's face after he made his comment, making sure it was carefully hidden from the other two roommates' views before he went back to talking with the duo.

Yep, he definitely happy he was back.

 

His grip on the checkered bass suddenly tightened.

 

Definitely.


	4. Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote a filler for Tord's side lol.

Back at the base, things were loud. Annoying the hell out of the communist male as it differed from the silence and peace he was starting to get used too. "Peace" not being a common thing he was used to seeing all the time.

He walks up the stairs that connect the porch to the ground and then opened the wooden, fine door. Everything is even louder now. 

Normally all the rough and rowdyness would pipe down a little once Tord would come back, or at least be a little more tolerable, but this time was different. Everyone was in either an enthused, shocked, or even fearful mood. And the worse thing about it all was that Tord had no damn clue what was going on.

And how much he hated being the last one to know about shit.

He was shocked to see that all the Rød's members were now eagerly watching the T.V screen. His bushy eyebrowed right-hand man sitting on the edge of their leather couch, looking like he saw a cat get ran over in the street. 

His other companion, who was always used to being around the uniquely eyebrowed male, was seated right beside him. Dumbfounded at what was being displayed on the dimly illuminated television.

The other members of the group was scattered all over the place, some of them comfortably seating on the floor, others standing up and crossing their arms, one was busy hurriedly typing on their phone to even pay attention, and another one was standing up, their hand covering their mouth mirroring the surprise of a sports fan when one of their favorite teams won. Meanwhile, Tord still stayed behind not making his presence known, a brow of his raised, wondering what in the hell was going on here.

"Fucking christ, he's gone. It's done. It's finally over." one of the members in the back mumbled, sounding like hell had officially frozen over when he mentioned that.

"Nah man, it's never over. Just because he's arrested doesn't mean he's done. I mean. Look at all of them loyalists panting over him like guard dogs? Bitch'll get out."  Another one of the members replied back, skepticism apparent in his voice.

"Boss, are you seeing this?" 

Tord was surprised when he heard that voice, looking over to see his right-hand man gesturing over for him to come and see what caused this much commotion in the base.

Tord went over and sat in the empty leather recliner to his right. Not caring if he was comfortably seated in right now, as all of his attention was devoted straight on the television screen. Knowing that what ever had to have happened must of had something to do with him. He was the only guy Tord knew that could create this much drama.

"Valentin Kron, leader of the notorious band of gang members slash hitmen 'The Svarts'. Was recently encountered and arrested this morning for almost performing an attempted murder on a business man. It is currently unaware where the rest of the Svarts had gone to as they still remain in hiding, however it is possible Valentin could be locked behind bars for multiple years when settling his other murders and past crimes as leader of the gang-"

"I don't see how those guys can still stay discrete. I mean. Their freaking leader is gone. There's no use in staying banded anymore. We all know by the time they take a good look at his records he'll get a good ol' 10 or 20 years in prison. Probably longer. I'd suggest giving it up. There's no way they can go on without a leader. They'd be dead on arrival if they messed with us again. " 

The member with the bushy eyebrows commented while the news lady was still talking, making a pretty well-thought out point amongst doing so. His comment now prompting other statements and generalizations to be made.

"Hell yeah!"

 

"They managed to get to Valentin? Oi, I sense foul play. There is no way that bastard could go to jail. No way, no how."

 

He stuffs one hand in his pocket and retrieves a pack of cigarettes and a smooth, blue lighter. 

 

"Does that mean.........we won?" A voice spoke lowly with hesitance.

 

"I still think he's gonna come back."

 

"Tord's going to be so freaking happy, his number 1. rival scratched off his list!"

"I thought that was his number 2. rival?"

 

"Damnit Isaac, do you ever pay attention?"

 

" RØD FOR LIFE. RØD FOR LIFE. RØD FOR LIFE. RØD FOR LIFE. RØD FOR LIFE." A guy in the back started, fist-pumping the air.

 

"Can you stop that mother-fucking chanting? We ain't in football."

 

"Now that it's over. Perhaps the leader won't act like such a jerkass sometimes."

 

" RØD FOR LIFE. RØD FOR LIf-" 

 

Flick.

 

The sound of the lighter flicked over the cigarette was subtle, yet loud enough for the wide room to hear that small sound, to where everyone knew where it had came from. The lively base filled with gang members now head turned over to where Tord sat, not even saying anything yet as their leader and he already had gained concerned attention. Taking in note on their faces of nervous expressions, intrigued glances, fearful gazes and emotionless staring.

Tord still was seated, not saying a word. As he lights the cigarette and lays it in his mouth, his teeth grasping onto it, he laughed to himself. Today will be fun. He hadn't been expecting any excitement this evening, but that one piece of interesting news had changed it all. At all the watchful eyes now laid on him instead of the television, he grins, puffing out his cigarette. 

"Tch, Valentin played his cards wrongly, and now he has to pay the price." 

A small pause.

"How foolish of him." Tord's accent rolling off more thickly and clearly as he spoke. 

Tord began to stand up from the recliner, firmly postured as he took the chance to lead the base directly.

"It's over." Tord finally implied after a few minutes of staring at the whole room, almost having a bittersweet tone embedded in it. 

It didn't take a few seconds after those words were announced to drive the whole room insane with joy and anticipation of what was to come of the future. Bottles of beer was raised to the sky, as a celebration to the long-awaited news. Cheers of laughter and utter enjoyment filled the room once more, this time with their involved in the part taking. The man with the eyebrows and the companion he came went only spectating the excitement, standing near Tord who doing the exact same while smoking another lit cigar.

"Still think he's a jerkass-" A bullet was soon found in the speaker's head, blood slowly gushing out of it as the person who repeated that comment twice was now helplessly found laid out on the ground, bleeding from his possibly fatal wound.

The crowd looked over to find Tord was the one who shot said bullet, still in his calm and joyous mood he was in from before the shot rang out. The two men to his left observing with a mix of surprise and a tiny bit of fear. The crowd didn't seem phased out by that moment though as they kept doing what they were ordinarily doing. Tord just smirked, smiling at the gang's latest accomplishment. However knowing deep down he would have loved getting it all by himself, the look on Valentin's face--that traitor--as he died by the hands of his own, how thrilling and exhilarating it would be having his blood on Tord's own hands. He let out a small sigh, he guessed jail had to do. 

Sadly.

******************************  
The gang was relaxing on the apartment's couch now. Tord was loving the fact that they came out with a "Insane Zombie Pirates From Hell" Part Three movie. The second movie that came out didn't end really good. So he was especially excited to see the third part of the movie come out. Luckily Edd had gotten the DVD and now felt totally relaxed as he watched it with his friends. Well, two of his friends anyways. Often times, Tord would find his face turn to where Thomas' was, not being in too good of a mood for speaking and sometimes having his face glare towards Tord.

 

Tord had translated Thomas' behaviors into him not wanting to be around him, and although he absolutely knew the reason why, he couldn't necessarily blame him. Especially if one were to know Tord's "true" persona when behind the scenes, which was something he ironically never showed Tom or even the others. Since in doing so would in return be a starting point to reveal a lot of other things he feared them discovering about. So for now, the only thing that kept Tom and Tord divided was their rivalry. And he intended to keep it that way.

His head turned to Thomas once more, seeing that Tom had begun to crack a smile at the movie.

 

Unless he knew something Tord didn't know.

*

An hour into the movie, and Tord caught himself checking his I-phone with that notif again.

                     5:15 PM 

Paul Tord, me and Patryk fear the Svart Gang is going to plan an attack on our grounds. Should we meet up for a strategy plan?- 

His gaze was fixated at the text, returning him to that feeling he had when he was standing outside Edward's apartment, nervous and a little petrified. Paul was Tord's right-hand man, there was no way he would be lying about The Svart's return. He had to of not been lying, right? Cause if this was a god damn joke he swore to-Ugh. This was useless.

He soon felt eyes were glaring upon him as he found Edward's deep brown eyes were laid on him, Tord gulped slightly, he didn't want to drive attention to himself.

"Tord, are you okay?" Edd whispered towards Tord, his nervous demeanor looking a little out of character for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is gonna get dark as hell omg.


	5. Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tfw your suffering in silence and no one can hear you.

Tori sighed for a brief second, now standing in front of her new apartment door, mind swirling with mixed feelings about whether this was really a good idea or not. It was, she meant. But then it wasn't at the same time...... Sure she moved to the city for a reason, but now arriving here, taking in all that happened this evening with that freaking stranger bothering her damn mind, and of course leaving her closest friends behind. This all started to feel unnessasary by the time she made it, like it was all for nothing. 

Tori tried pushing back her negative thoughts, which was hard since there were like, a lot of them at this second. And tried focusing on something good that happened on this day.

She did meet that sweet girl back there, so she guessed it wasn't all too bad. 

She just had no idea why she was feeling this guilty, even if she did nothing wrong.

.................................................  
1.

There once was a little girl who held onto a rose. Gleaming with excitement, she held onto it. Fiddling with the petals.

After all, there was nothing wrong.

.................................................

She paused as her hand nervously wavered over the doorknob, this was it, this was the first step to a whole new world. And not like that one song from Aladdin. 

"Alright, Her går vi..." Tori unlocked the door and stepped through the threshold. She turned to shut the door behind her then thought better of it. She had to leave it open for that mover guy she talked to before. She turned back around and examined her apartment. The apartment was stale and bare, save for a fridge that looked like it had been there since the 1950's and a matching stove that went with it. Tori looked around but there was no microwave in sight. Oh no, she'd definitely have to change that. And soon. She thought as her stomach gave a low grumble. She started walking towards the living room area. 

There was an open floor plan, so her kitchen and what would serve as her living room were mashed into one big space. On the back wall of the room was a huge window. She walked over and opened the curtains only to be face with a view of the creepy looking alleyway and the building next to hers. "Nice view." She mumbled to herself as she shut the curtains again and wondered to the back of the apartment. She went into her bedroom and just stood there taking it all in. The apartment. The room. The move. Her new life. She was so lost in deep thought that she almost didn't hear the sound of her cell phone beeping. Snapping from her self-imposed trance, she hurriedly removed the blaring crimson Android from her pocket and eagerly answered it, surprised it was just a simple voicemail. 

She wasn't expecting a lot of people to contact her because....if it wasn't easily guessed from the small list of phone numbers she had listed on her contacts, a girl like her wasn't the quickest at making friends, and the friends she did have...well, she knew where that went. So coming across this voicemail notification was, although the least of her worries at this time, was something she found quite odd. 

"Hey there uh, Tori," 

A soft and awkward voice erupted fron the phone, the girl being greeted already had known from the way it said her name it was someone who definitely was not a stranger. It was Elle. Now seating herself on the firm, plain bed she continually had her ears keen on that feminine voice.

"So hey uh...if you somehow get this when you make it to your apartment safely I hope you take the time to...ya know, listen to this or....You could just ignore this right now or.....I'll get to the point. Okay?" Tori chuckled quietly, hearing Elle's voice again was something she didn't expect, her awkward tone apparent. "I...know that this was, a bit inevitable, me and Tammi and Matilda have all been talking about it for a little while.......Uh, well how should I put this, um......."

Just say it, she can take it.

"Please don't forget about us. Okay?" 

Maybe she couldn't take it.

"I know that you'll probably be out there in the world, doing your own thing and living your own life. And you should. You totally should." 

Three seconds in, tons of responses churned in her brain:

Boy, you should've seen the shit I put up with coming here.

Man do I miss you guys already.

Why is this so fucking hard?

If I felt like turning back I would. In a minute.

"I just hope that...while your out there, you....don't leave us behind or...Ugh, how am I suppose to do this!?" 

Tori's shoulders shrugged. That was one response they can agree on.

"I......just wanna make sure that your alright, that your fine being out there alone..Great, now I'm sounding like a overprotective mother. UGH. Just, make sure you, text me a lot, okay? Just to let me know how your doing occasionally, or then again you couldn't, and now I'm basically rambling my doubts off to you I-" 

After being followed with a load of fast speaking, there was now a slight pause in the sentence. After a whole 10 seconds, the voice on the other end spoke again.

"Tam and Matilda have no idea I did this. But I didn't want to lose all contact with you, call me stalkerish or weird as hell. I don't care. I just want to make sure, you, are okay. So please, let me know that, okay? I- I'm just gonna......." Why must you do this. "Okay, uh, bye. Victoria.''

The voicemail instantly clicked off, the phone now displaying whether to replay the message or delete it fully off her phone. She surely didn't have the strength to replay it over again, as much as she lit up hearing the familar voice once more, and she felt like removing it off her phone was similar to erasing a part of her soul. So, needless to say, she kept it locked up in her previous messages.

She soon placed the phone over to the shelf sitting next to the bed, and rested back on the mattress. Propping her legs on the bed and laying her head back on the pillow that still didn't have a pillowcase yet. Trying to take in all that had managed to transpire on just a single day. Leaving her roommates, meeting a new girl, hair horned man, and this latest voicemail. Funny, summarizing these events that way made it seem like small things, (except hair horned man, that made zero sense), but the way it all came together in reality was much more meaningful then what she could have described.

She questioned in her mind why Elle would take the time even leaving that voicemail. There was no way she could of known if she received it or not, no way of knowing if she even bothered listening to it, nor if the Norwegian would have even cared. Just the thought of them potentially feeling like she completely abandoned them without caring about their feelings once, hurt the girl like a knife to the chest. Even if she did have a dream whilst moving to this big city, she still couldn't deny how it would feel turning back on the people she claimed to care about. In spite of knowing that, in the end, they were all bound to do the same anyways.

So that just left Tori with one fact floating in her mind, and also been reminded by one of her best, ex-college friends. That now she was living her own life.

She is living her life.

A life with no friends.

Lonely.

And no idea what she was doing.

What a wonderful life it is.

*****


	6. Six

The sunset filled the entire sky with the deep color of rubies, setting the clouds ablaze. The small gusty breeze from earlier in the day now dying down, allowing you to safely make your way back to that place. There you were sitting on that tree, resting yourself on your favorite spot on top of the branch. This was your special spot, no one, not even your own friends knew about it. This area was yours and yours alone. 

She sat on the sidelines, all the times you could find her she was always there, on the sidelines. You were playing in the park, she was there, on the sidelines. In school, she was there, sitting near the sidelines. Watching a movie, probably not there, but if you knew her long enough you guessed she was off on the sidelines too. Sometimes it troubled other kids about how relaxed and somewhat emotionless she was, it was like she was an alien from outer space. Looking down at the world like it was a lower specimen or too surreal for someone of her cryptic nature. Or perhaps that was just how the world saw it, and secretly she was only a solitary girl, and simply preferred being left secluded in her own little fantasies. You didn't know which story to believe.

 

And frankly, you cared less. 

 

She could've been surrounded by nothing but sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. And you still could've cared less.

 

To you she was nothing but another girl, another average student who made her way at the top of the worthless attention food chain by being someone who no one could understand. A blank canvas. A mirror. An enigma. Even if she never asked for said attention.

 

To you, she was a stranger. 

 

That was all she was gonna be.

 

Until it started to surround you. 

 

Despite having no idea who she really was from the facade that she kept huddled up around her, blocked off internally from the rest who dared tried getting involved with this mysterious student. And at first you didn't either, she didn't once matter to you. Not once. Not at all.

 

For a while, anyways.

 

But one thing that could stick out most to you was how, even though she was perhaps the most lonesome person you could find. She was aways chilling there with a flower. An ordinary flower for her (maybe or maybe not) ordinary life. It's pointed-cone shape and that rich, spicy-sweet scent gliding its way to your view. That pleasurable smell reaching its way to your nostrils, opening your airways to it's beautiful calling. There was no way you could ignore her anymore. Because she always was gonna be there, and you couldn't stop it. In some way, it annoyed you. No, seriously. It REALLY annoyed you. 

 

You didn't bother trying to figure out what flower it was at first because it didn't matter to you as it apparently mattered to this little girl. Resting on that tree you often climbed whilst with your friends and calling it your "secret hiding place" . You could spot her right there, sitting on the sidelines like she usually does. Playing with that little flower that she was found curled up with. You were surprised you didn't cringe up and ignore that strange person, yet you didn't, you never did. Because she was a stranger, a stranger, she was "strange". Oddly enough though, that never bothered you. This girl that remained locked up in the corners, watching the other kids from her special little area where she kept herself. 

 

You questioned why it was this girl that caught your curiousity. Maybe it was her other-worldly appearance that had attracted you to find out more about this girl. How cliche, you blatantly recognized.

 

Nah, you thought to yourself, perhaps to you shouldn't refer to her as "that girl" anymore.

 

But what was a better nickname?

 

Hmm...

 

"Rosey"?

 

Sounds kinda childish, you acknowledged.

 

But it would have to do.

__________  
He soon felt eyes were glaring upon him as he found Edward's deep brown eyes were laid on him, Tord gulped slightly, he didn't want to drive attention to himself.

"Tord, are you okay?" Edd whispered towards Tord, his nervous demeanor looking a little out of character for him. 

Tord was now regaining control in himself, he couldn't allow Edward to see him like this. This was not the perfect timing to be concerned over such manners, not now, not right now. He calmly waved his hand in a assuring gesture, attempting to sooth whatever uncomfortable thoughts Edward gathered about the man."Y-yeah, I'm fine Edd don't worry."  he eagerly responded. 

Edward had his eyebrows furrowed, a hint of slight disbelief in his eyes. But he managed to rub it off a little. He had to of still been concerned though.

Looking back at the television, Tord didn't realize the movie was now paused. Turning his head over to where Tom (used to) be seated at, he had gotten up earlier and went to fix some popcorn in their microwave. Meanwhile, Matt had been doing the same thing as Edd, looking mildly concerned about their old friend. Before turning his head back to the bright screen illuminating from the television.

 

Tord let out a deep sigh, why must things be difficult to handle?

 

__________5 hours later______________

Doctor Why was airing on the TV with all it's magical weirdness and glory. Marcel had been taking small gazes at the television on and off,finding it hard to understand the storyline, as always, why bother when all the problems can be solved with whatever whimiscal "magic" that Doctor Why conjures. 

She glanced sideways at Joan, holding the place of where she stopped reading her book with the tip of her finger. She could not tell how many minutes the girl had been sitting there fidgeting with those things, and if she had took the time to look closer much earlier. She would have realized that those "things" were -- what seemed to be -- crimson red rose petals. The petals had emitted some sort of velvet aroma, which caught the attention of woman as she tried to comprehend what Joan was thinking bringing them here. The blonde hadn't really deciphered how she had even gotten the petals. From what she had been told, Joan had apparently received them while she was on her busride home from that amusement park, ASDFLand or whatever it's name is. She almost snickered at the thought, how do you get petals from a bus? 

Of course, that was seriously hard to believe, even Ellana couldn't fully believe it, and that was no surprise since it's hard to convince Ellana of certain things. This situation was far from any different. However, Joan paid no mind to their doubts and protected those petals like some important charm was apart of their value. It was quite odd, to say the least.

Marcel just rolled her eyes and went back to her reading, paying no mind to the girl.


	7. Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From this point on, here lies the wildin.

Too many things were starting to get on the nerves of Victoria.

First, she couldn't stand the sun's rays, how they were just beaming down on her so persistently and in her face she even assumed that it was aware and was doing it on purpose, like the world was trying to pester with her in someway. Secondly, her alarm clock went off at the most incorrect time: 5:49 A.M. And due to the fact that she wasn't one of those "early birds", hearing the surround-sound buzzing was grating to her ears. Thirdly, not once did Patrice get back with her on whether she got the journalist gig or not. Something that the Norwegian was looking forward to since she moved to the city.

 

Leaving the woman with unanswered questions to her rather unanswered future. An unanswered future that could be the beginning of amazing things to come, or end up burning in a forest fire with no care. And boy was she ready to tackle such a fate, not.

 

Nonetheless, the woman promptly replied to the clock's bothersome call and shook off the sheets lying on her. Sitting up straight and slamming her hand on the clock, trying to end that grating noise that was absolutely the best start to her morning.

 

Next, she went to the shower. Since it was a fairly new one it differed from the shower back at her old friends' apartment. It even had a new vibe added to it and everything, perhaps it feels the same way as it looks. She took off her red sleeveless shirt, black pants, and united her ponytail as she walked inside the shower, setting the rose-beads that kept up her ponytail on the side shelf. Shutting the bathroom door behind her as she did so.

 

Standing in the warm, glistening water she pondered for a minute. She didn't understand why she was feeling like this. She grabbed the soap on the stand and began scrubbing her body. She didn't know why she was feeling this confused. Almost like she was missing something.

 

Sure she knew she was having one of those homesick days from that night before, and definitely after that voicemail from Ell. But that wasn't it. Something just didn't feel right.

 

Something just seemed off.

 

Perhaps it was because of that busride on the same day? Maybe it was because of that Joan girl? Mr. Horns-For-Hair man? No, it couldn't been any of those things. Right?

...

Right?

...

This is ridiculous.

Before long, the woman switched off the shower. Snatching one of her towels from off the towel rack and started drying off her chest, body, and everywhere else before stepping out of the shower. Making sure her body was entirely clean before putting back all her previous clothes on and a mixture of some new ones. Not too new. Only this time she was wearing a pair of black shorts instead of pants, it was summer, she figured, might as well fit into the season.

Looking to her left where she saw her rose beads she left behind earlier. The woman picked up her ponytail-holder and gazed at it. Nicely curled shape roses that were shaped into small little beads, colorcoated as just red, pink, and maroon. She almost felt a smile rising to her face as she took the four little seconds to view at them. But then stopped it, remembering the naivety of her childhood.

Tori was once a shy girl, which seemed like a bit unbelievable to admit because of the woman she is now. But she was. However, the way she took her quote on quote "shy side" was a little different than what some could perceive. 

Due to her "shy side", she decided to show off the opposite, her once younger side assuming that turning people away, keeping up this wall, and sitting off into random corners was the perfect example of a shy person. Only to come off as someone who was probably too intimidating to come across, or just strange. She was a "stranger". Not that she deliberately wanted to be, it just sorta happened. Besides, who would want to talk to that short, albeit creepy little girl who held a freaking rose wherever she went? Yeah right, she could name a few people. A set of twins with the first name "None" and a surname "Ever".

Roses had been a part of her life for quite a while.

She couldn't stand looking back at that person, that person who kept this barrier similar to that of a shadow. Always there, never there. She hated it. In the eyes of others she was this foreign "stranger" an alien, not seeing how much she hurted from their turn aways and intimidated glances. She felt like she was the most unapproachable people that laid eyes on the world. And what was more painful was that nobody knew it, because nobody tried. No one but them.

Those three girls that individually gave her the light to her shadow back in high school, three people who actually cared about this little creepy girl. And showed her the "light" she never thought she needed. 

Now here she is, finally being that light, yet everything surrounding her now were like plain shadows. Irony at it's finest.

She took the rose-beads and began wrapping them around her chest-length hair, wrapping it in a small ponytail with a few tip at the ends. 

She decided to take this time to go ahead and just live through this wrong morning. Switching on the TV perfectly on cue at the 6am hour and the early morning news opened up with it's typical dramatic introdution. She let the the television play in the background as she fixed up an ordinary breakfast of bacon and eggs. Topped with a nice glass of orange juice as her side drink. She did kinda have a thing for bacon.

As she listened to the newscaster forecast the weekly weather, she took a bite out of the crispy piece of bacon on her plate, rose up to clean the area and placed her dishes in the sink. Coming back to sit down on her couch and taking a swig out of the orange juice.

DIINNGG ~ DOONG

Tori jumped, causing the orange juice to make a swerve in the wrong direction, and THAT causing her to roughly cough when the doorbell rang. Jarring and loud, bouncing off the walls and the hardwood floor in her apartment. She had froze, her eyes widening.

She never had guests, obvious to say because she just moved here about a week ago. The only person who she could see doing that was Matilda, because everyone else knocked on the door. But Matilda doesn't even know her location yet, so how-

Diinngg~ Doong

Heart hammering against her chest, she whipped her arm to the TV remote and turned off the TV. Like a deer in headlights, she stood as frozen as possible, as if the person outside could hear her every move.

Who the freaking hell?

She didn't even know. She thought about not answering the door, but that gave the possibility of them returning again, which was not something she desired. She cringed. Better to turn them away, once and for all. 

She continued standing still in her place, still unsure with the decision she just made. Then, suddenly, silence. 

Just silence. 

 

She dreaded opening up that door, did they leave? Are they still there? Were they gonna come back? She mentally shivered at the thought of it. Unaware of her instincts of holding onto a knife from her other pocket. She went closer and closer towards the door.

Her steps became slightly heavier as she took small ones to the door, fearing whether they could be still there or disappear into thin air just like that sound.

Diiinng~ Doonng

She paused for a moment to brace herself. Then Tori cracked open the door, slowly, carefully. Just wide enough so that she can see the other person before they could see her. Her feeling of dread quickly dissipated as she was met with a pair of welcoming eyes, a pair of familiar eyes as the older's gaze met with her's. She examined the older woman, a pink hoodie, deep brown hair, black combat boots, and thick eyebrows that somehow suited her appearance. Accompanied by a small pair of gold ear rings.

"...Excuse me, I didn't mean to bother you or anything.......I just wanted to say Hi." The brunette woman mouthed out immediately, a slick tone accent passing her lips as she greeted the older woman in a naturally nervous manner.

Tori's eyebrows furrowed, not expecting anybody made her tone a bit more harsher than needed. "What do you want." she bluntly responded, her whole morning of half annoyance and half confusion reflecting in her speech.

The girl's eyes widened, making her feel like she arrived at the wrong time (which was kinda the truth), she nervously tucked a strand of her dark brown hair behind her ear. "I'm one of your new neighbors next door. And I saw you were moving in. So I wanted to greet you in..person..." The thick eyebrowed woman's sentence got slower as she saw the glaring in Tori's eyes, she gulped, fearing she made a bit of a mistake.

 

She felt like she was the most unapproachable people that laid eyes on the world. And what was more painful was that nobody knew it, because nobody tried. 

 

Tori's glare got lifted off the woman as she realized what she doing. Her eye's slowly widened, her brow narrowed. Damnit. Now this girl was gonna look at her like some monster or something. 

The woman looked a bit frozen in place, before awkwardly holding up her hands. "Look, if you don't want me here, I can-"

nonononononono-

Tori's gaze grew lighter towards the woman as she shook her head in nervousness. 

The woman simply chuckled at her. "I was just teasing ya, kid." She held out her hand to her in a form of greeting, hoping that the other would reach out her hand as well. 

Never would have expected the gesture this woman was giving off, or the fact that she was teasing the whole time. Tori didn't know whether to feel relief or annoyed. But she was more relieved then the latter.

Reaching out her (somewhat shaking) hand to grab the older's.  
_________________________________________

Hearing Kron's name resounding once more, he didn't admit, somewhat scared the shit out of the male. But it wasn't like he had any huge worries, not when he knew he had The Rød's backing him up every step of the way. After all, this was probably the most important mission of the entire gang. "If" what Paul said had to be true, otherwise all this worrying and planning in his mind would've all been for nothing. 

Paul promised he would never, ever lie to him. He better not be starting that crap now.

Parking his car into an area right beside the base, Tord walking up the stairs that connected the porch to the ground and opening up the door once more, Tord takes in everything that's changed.

For one thing, Tord remembers there use to be many members residing in his base. To the point where it filled the base like a crowd of people, now here, there are still a lot of people. But it doesn't have that "overly full" feeling it used to anymore. He assumes that some of them managed to leave, betrayed the group, or simply died. Which was probably the most likely out of most of them. Seeing that being found out as a "traitor" would make you a result of the last option. Betrayal and dying were basically the same thing, that is if someone made it out alive. 

Ever since Tord decided to take a break as gang leader for a few months, he had expected Paul to be able to keep the rest of the base alive and well. At this point on. He was glad that any of them were still alive, let alone being "well".

Tord ignored the small depletion as he walked over to the black recliner, resting back in it as their eye's were glanced at his direction.

This was gonna be interesting.

**Author's Note:**

> ALSO POSTED ON WATTPAD:  
> http://my.w.tt/UiNb/CbzKmRhz4C 
> 
> Dang.....I finally got to work on this XDD  
> Yes! I made Joan apart of this story cause hey. Why not, she needs way more attention in the tags.
> 
> I actually really like this first part to be honest- I'll most likely continue I dont know XD


End file.
